Premiere and Interview: Q&A with DJ and producer Morning Maxwell

A strong party vibe seems to follow DJ and producer Morning Maxwell wherever he goes. Completely individual in his approach, Morning Maxwell can often be found anywhere the coconut water is, wearing the most colourful clothing in sight. MorningMaxwell resides in leafy Warrandyte in Melbourne, creating funky electronic dance music ranging from chilled hip shakers to house bangers.

DJ Morning Maxwell has just announced a brand new track ‘Complications’ which is set to be released on the 29th May 2020.

Set the tone for us. Why the arts?

Creating is something special. I love it – it makes me feel good – AND there are heaps of good people in the arts!

Which comes first when you’re producing – the sound or the idea?

Both! It depends – I might have an idea in my head in which case Id just get it down with piano or my voice or whatever and worry about the sound later, or I might be experimenting with sounds then one really sticks out!

Does your material feature any collaborations?

Mostly all the time! I work with heaps of other producers and vocalists! Teamwork makes the dream work!

Ahhh I love playing so much. It’s so cool to see people singing your songs! DJ’ing is so much fun to me. I play the music that I make and music that I like listening to. I love both of those ya know? Its the best – the whole theme for my DJ set islets have fun so the chemistry is so good and fortunately people have started to come and watch me multiple times!

What techniques do you experiment with to get your original sound?

HEAPS! I love so many different styles of music, and given the time, I’m getting really creative and doing some weird stuff! Heavy inspirations currently are Timbaland (uses his mouth for beats and sounds) and Scott Storch (insane keys player).

Take us through a day in the recording studio.

Usually, I’ll play some tunes on Spotify, listen to stuff that people send me, and then either listen to what I did the day before or if I have a specific task/project to work on ill do that. I exercise, eat food, drink tea, go for walks and chat on the phone to break up the day!

Was there a specific moment in your life where you thought, “this is what I want to do”?

Playing Beyond the Valley that consolidated my love for performing. When I finish Tryna Chill, and I got it mastered, and played it on the way home, I was like ‘YEP, I wanna make music forever!’ such a wild world we live in!

Listening to tunes that make you feel a certain way! Talking to people, watching interviews of inspirational people (music and non-music), sleeping (sounds weird but I get heaps of ideas in bed).

Take us through your collection of gear, tech or software that accompanies your creative expression.

I don’t have heaps of gear, to be honest – I’ve got a nice big midi keyboard, a Roland GAIA synth that has some epic pad and bass sounds, and then my mic! I have heaps of natural light coming into the studio and a nice big space so its a good vibe!

Any side projects you’re working on?

At the moment, nothing – although I have considered different things multiple times – I make so much random stuff and it does get me thinking!

How have you refined your craft since you entered the industry?

Definitely – producing wise I was all over the shop and DJ set wise I played whatever – now I’ve got more idea on both those things – I know what I like and I know when to take risks! in saying this though, refining will occur to the day I die!

Breakdown the news for us: what can we expect from you this year?

MUSIC! I’ve been releasing heaps of music this year and plan to continue this! I’ve got some epic stuff in the works which I’m so excited for!